Rochester, N.Y.—This past weekend saw one of the greatest duels in sports car prototype history. This culminated in one of the greatest final three laps in auto racing history. This in turn climaxed with one of the greatest finishes in sports history.

This all took place at Road America, one of the premier road racing facilities in the world, in the American Le Mans Series event. It was a battle between Goliath, the superior Honda Performance Development ARX-03a of Muscle Milk Pickett Racing against David and the little engine that could, the Mazda powered Lola B12/60 of Dyson Racing.

After nearly four hours of racing, the Honda, beset early by technical problems, caught the leading Mazda. It was only a matter of time, everyone thought. Instead, it was the perfect example of the racing adage, you can catch him, but can you pass him?

The first moment of breathtaking action took place when the cars caught up to heavy traffic, some fighting for class wins amongst themselves, with about three laps to go. The two prototypes sliced and diced through the slower cars with imminent disaster just a split second away.

Guy Smith in the Mazda and Lucas Luhr in the Honda displayed some of the most skilled driving ever seen on a race course. Smith turned his fastest lap time in the race despite weaving through all the traffic. But, they weren't done. Clear of traffic with either one able to take advantage of it, they were now left to duel with one another unabated for the final two laps.

On the penultimate lap, Luhr looked for a way around, but appeared to be somewhat conservative, as Smith made his car wide. For the final lap, Luhr upped his aggressiveness as did Smith in defense. Heading through Canada Corner, everyone knew the moment was coming.

Heading into the final turn, Luhr threw his car down the inside. Smith wasn't as aggressive trying the block. It looked like Luhr had the race as he exited the turn in the lead. But, Smith had one more trick up his bag.

Whether Smith planned on letting Luhr through in order to come out faster or Luhr went in too hard and couldn't get on the gas quickly enough or the Mazda's turbo kicked in at just the right time as it climbed the hill or all of the above, the Mazda pulled alongside the Honda despite Luhr moving over nearly forcing Smith off the track.

The drag race was on, and suddenly it appeared the Mazda was going to win it. And win it is what the Mazda did in one of the most dramatic, improbable final turn, final straightaway finishes in racing history, the closest in series history at 0.083 seconds.

So, with such a mind blowing finish, one reminiscent of "The Pass" by Alex Zanardi at Laguna Seca, who in the world would be a throw a wet rag at it?

I will.

No matter how fantastic that finish was, no matter how amazing it was to top last year's thrilling finish at Road America, the fact is, in the ALMS, more often than not, the main show is not with the overall fight, but with the battle for GT top honors.

Let's face it. The real drama in LMP1 is not the finish, but to see which niggling mechanical woe will befall the Muscle Milk team, how many laps will it cost them, and whether they catch the full course yellows just right to catch up to the only other prototype car of note, the Dyson Racing's #16 entry.

Because without that drama, it's no contest. As Luhr rightfully put it after the heartbreaking loss, "To be honest, if you have so much quicker car than anybody else and cannot win the race, that is very disappointing." Smith himself acknowledged, "They were faster than us." The reality is, there is no competiton amongst any of the three cars in the premier class unless the racing gods intervene.

GT on the other hand has for years consistently produced one great race after another. Road America was no exception, despite getting overshadowed by the rare honest to goodness battle at the top.

As a racing fan, I am naturally greedy. I want it all -- a great GT battle and a great prototype battle. GT is as good as ever with BMW, Corvette, Ferrari, and Porsche battling hard for every position every race.

LMP1 is anything but. It's not the small field. You can have great races with just two cars. But they have to be evenly matched. Last year, they barely were, with Dyson Racing taking the title more due to Muscle Milk's teething problems than outright speed. This year, the performance isn't even close between the two. The rare glimmers of competitive hope during qualifying has turned out to be examples of sandbagging more than anything else.

I admit, I don't know how to fix it (other than for starters, get rid of LMP2, La Sarthe be damned, and figure out a way to equalize the different formulas), but fix it the series must do.

ALMS has always had the makings of being the best sport car series out there -- high tech, real speed, cool looking cars, and great competition ... amongst some of their classes.

Repeat the Road America competition throughout all the classes for every race event, and you will not be able to sell tickets fast enough.

Copyright © 2012 by and Deep Throttle. All Rights Reserved.